First Congregational Church
United Church of Christ

Fun, Fellowship and BASEBALL!

We have 40 Cougars Tickets for sale on All Faiths Night August 14th, 2006.

Tickets are $4.50

Available for purchase in the Church Office (8-4 pm) Tuesday through Thursday.

Quantities are limited!

I would like to take a moment here to thank all you very really cool people at F.C.C. for helping me get through this. I am seeing some rays of sun up there some where. Depression is something that I guess I'll have to keep an eye on my whole life. It's nice to know that I have a whole church FULL of friends that love and care about me. I know that with ALL the support, cards, prayers, and thoughts that you will see me through this just fine. So thank you thank you thank you. You are all very special to me!

I would like to make a special thank you to Paris, Lois, Steve, Colleen TheYauch's and the Kilmanas' you are very dear to me.

Peace Ron Reuter

To the Members of the Church,

Thank you all for making my confirmation happen. May 21st is a day I will never forget.

I especially would like to thank Lois, because she taught us for a whole school year.

I had so much fun, I'm really excited to become a member of First Congregational Church.

Anna Mitchell

• Owen Thomas Grote was born June 10 to parents Paul and Tracy Grote.
• Curt Perrin recently celebrated his 15th anniversary of beating cancer. Praise God!

• Megan Bye graduated from UIC on May 4th with a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.
• Lindsay Moody, granddaughter of Geneva Moody, graduated from the University of Minnesota.
• Daniel Schneck-Skiba, grandson of John and Ann Schneck, graduated from Naperville North High School. He will be attending Drake University in Des Moines on a full 4 year scholarship.

• Roger Dieringer has been discharged from St. Joseph Hospital. He is staying temporarily at Manor Care for rehab.
• Sandy Browning was in Sherman Hospital for tests in early June. She is home recuperating now.
• Chuck Zimmerman had outpatient surgery in late May. He is fully recovered.
• Sandy Dalton had outpatient surgery also in late May. She too is fully recovered.
• Jackie Sanderson will be having surgery to correct carpal tunnel syndrome and a shoulder problem on June 27th.
• Linda Taylor had a biopsy of her thyroid on June 20 at Sherman Hospital.
• Carrie Widder had minor eye surgery. She is recuperating well.
• Roy Iverson, Jeff Iverson's father, is struggling with complications from eye surgery.
• Wyatt Hewitt, new grandson of Dennis and Mary Hewitt is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer cells discovered in a tumor removed from his kidney.
• Megan Hodges, daughter of Bonnie Morrow, had surgery to repair an arm broken into three pieces. The surgery went well, but a she is facing a long healing process.
• Mark Hartwig's mother had knee surgery on June 12.

• Elaine Munch passed away on June 7. A funeral service was held at Laird Funeral Home led by pastors Paris and Lois.
• Edith Egner passed away on June 12. A funeral service, led by Pastor Paris, was held at Laird Funeral Home on June 16.
• Robert Horn, brother-in-law of Geneva Moody, passed away the week of June 5.
• Fox Valley Association Minister Jonathan Knight's mother passed away on June 1.

Cy Jeffrey and Brynn Allison, son and daughter of Jeff and Amy Kerber, were baptized into the FCC family on May 28.

The final preparations are underway for our Mission Trip July 7th - July 15th. Twenty-eight of us will be traveling by coach bus to Pine Ridge South Dakota. We will be staying in the volunteer center on this Lakota Reservation. Prayer partners have been assigned, but we would welcome mail from anyone who would like to send us a note. Please mail your letter or care package to: Re-member P,O, Box 5054, Pine Ridge, South Dakota 57770. Please make a special notation that it is for the First Congregational UCC of Elgin group. We need to receive the mail before Thursday, July 13th. This year's participants are: Cami Bailey, Janet Banwart, Lisa Boan, George Boan, Dick Browning, Lois Bucher, Alessandra Castillo, Sandy Dalton, Jeff Iverson, Cat Iverson, Lindsay Iverson, Josh Jackson, Nick Kemmler, Anna Mitchell, Lori Kemmler, Mike Kemmler, Helen McClure, Sandy Magana, Olivia Munson, Grant Powell, Tom Powell, Martina Preradovic, Brian Stark, Chase Sund, Linda Taylor, Mary Taylor, Stacie Widder.

Thanks for your prayers and your support!

Please mark your calendars now for our Mission Trip Thank You Dinner. The mission trip group wants to show their gratitude to congregation by at a Thank You Dinner on Sunday, August 13th immediately following the church service. We look forward to sharing the story of our trip during this salad luncheon. Please plan to come and share in our experience.

The children at VBS were collecting their offerings to buy school kits for underprivileged children in the Elgin U-46 schools. For every $25.00 collected they will have filled a backpack. Many children enter school each year without the necessary supplies to learn. During our week of VBS we collected a total of $282.40, which will fill 11 backpacks. At church on Sunday, June 18th we collected another $511.23which brings our total to $793.63. That means 31 backpacks for U-46 needy children.

By the time you receive this issue of Church Life Vacation Bible School will be over for another year. However, we believe that the stories, lessons, songs and fun-times will live on in the hearts of all those involved for a long time. How exciting it was to welcome children from our church as well as the community to VBS!. We had over 45 children participate in this year's program. Our theme for the week was Exploring God's Promises. Each day we learned about a different promise of God and heard bible stories that related to each promise. Our daily promises were: God Loves Us, God Knows Us, God Treasures Us, God Forgives Us and God will Be With Us Always. A big thank you to all those who made this week possible: VBS Director and teach of the older campers: Beth Mitchell; VBS Coordinator and Craft Director: Deb Sell ; Support Staff and Crafts: Jan Embree Music: Mary Stark, Snack Coordinator: Laura McMinn, Games: Amy Kerber, Cami Bailey; Storytellers: Evelyn Johnson, Carole Boelter, Walt Kilmanas, Connie, Amanda and Kate Reuter; Worship: Pastor Lois; Helpers: Charlotte Flanagan, Helen McClure, Dorothy Cook, Wendy and Alyssa Hargrave, Anna Mitchell, Mary Taylor, Nick Kemmler, Deb Leberecht, Janet Aldred, and Zach Brictson,

After the 10:15 worship service on June 4 there was a special called meeting of the congregation. Here are the decisions made: (1) For approval of capital fund monies for air conditioning the sanctuary - 76 yes, 4 no; (2) For approval of capital fund monies for Phase 1 of education wing renovation (fact-finding to determine if and how to proceed) - 71 yes, 5 no.

We recently had to say goodbye to Bob Carlson and Kyle Hetrick. Bob and his wife have moved to California. Kyle is moving to Indiana to pursue Ph.D. studies.

Please accept our deepest apology on the misspelling of Alyssa Hargrave's name in last month's newsletter.

Pat Calvin

The kitchen linens seem to be disappearing so I have a few requests. Please leave the dirty towels, etc. in the kitchen. Do not take them home to wash. Please do not throw towels, dishcloths, etc. away. There is a box labeled "Cleaning Rags" to be used as needed for clean up jobs. Do not use the kitchen "linen" for that purpose. I would like to publicly thank Mary Ellen Flaks who for many years has graciously helped do the laundry when I've been out of town.

Thank You, Thank You!!

Bonnie Turk

Once again our excellent volunteers did a grand job of delivering Meals on Wheels in May

Provena St. Joseph Hospital
Larry Rothlisberger, Janet Aldred,
Tom and Erin Powell, Debbie Kotttmier,
Carl and Mary Ellen Flaks,
John and Ellie Hopkins, and
Chuck and Dolores Zimmerman.

Sherman Hospital
Lee Ellsworth, Kay Durham,
Chuck and Dolores Zimmerman.

Erin Powell and Debbie Kottmier were first-timers, and we really appreciate their efforts.

Our next deliveries are scheduled for the weeks of August 7 and 14. If you can give of a couple of hours of your time during those dates please contact Dolores Zimmerman.

The Movie Maniacs are taking the summer off. We had a fun season. Watched some great movies had some even better fellowship. If asked I'm sure all would say we had a great time. Anyone who isn't in one of these Christ Care groups is really missing out on a good time. During the summer months do some research and see if maybe one of these groups is right for you. Or maybe you thought of a group that you'd like to try your hand with. Give us a go I know you'll have some real good fun times

Peace Ron Reuter

A New Opportunity!

Now that summer is here, the folks in the Christ Care group - Pray it isn't So - have a new opportunity for you! We will not be meeting during the summer months but have decided to start an email Prayer Chain.

Here's how it will work:

If you are interested in being a part of the prayer chain (a pray-er), please let Janet Aldred know, and you will be added to the list. When prayer requests are received, you will be notified via e-mail, so that you may pray.

If you have a prayer concern you want the group to pray about, you can either call or email (preferred) Janet Aldred, and your concern will be sent to everyone on the prayer chain.

It's that simple!

Contact information for Janet Aldred

Janet@JQDesigns.com

"Son" Shine Readers

I love to read. There are few things that give me greater pleasure that sitting down with a good book and getting "swept away" with the characters and the plot. Evidently, many of you feel the same. I hope you will consider joining one of our two groups. The Thursday night group meets in the Library the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month 7:00 p.m. We are taking the summer off but will resume on September 7th.

The Wednesday afternoon group meets in the Library the third Wednesday of each month from 1:30-3:00 p.m. We are continuing to meet during the summer and are currently reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Both groups are filled with wonderful people with a passion for good books and love to laugh a lot and enjoy each others company. Please join us. Contact Patti Scroggins.

Cross I'd Players Continue

The Cross I'd Players ChristCare Group continues to build community, conduct prayer and worship, review Bible passages, and seek mission opportunities. We recently met with the Crafty Christians and had a cookout. That Barbecue was Fun and Summery, as the temperature was in the 90s! We enjoyed the fellowship getting together with another group, and may do that again, as we cooperate on different projects in church.

We will have for our next evening of fun and fund raising on October 28! We invite all who are interested in having fun with us to come. We usually meet on Saturday mornings at church, and prepare for skits to emphasize different mission collections and roles in church. As you see us, we are having a good time, we are a circle of care with Christ at the center, and we have mission of helping others. Join us as you can - when we reconvene in the fall. Watch for the next Taste of ChristCare for the chance to sign up.

ChristCare Groups UPDATE

ChristCare groups are a circle of care with Christ at the center. This Christ centered emphasis provides for prayer, worship, bible study and community building with mission and outreach, and, of course, a lot of fun! Many of the groups are taking some summer time off. These groups are for anyone who would like to participate and several groups have grown with people interested in the groups' purposes and functions The ChristCare leaders met recently and we look forward to the new growth in coming this fall. We have learned that each group approaches these four principles in different ways, but Christ is still at the center of all that the groups do. Whatever your interests may be, you may find them in a ChristCare group, or simply ask one of us how to become a trained leader to begin your own ChristCare group. There are so many members in ChristCare that as you worship it is likely that someone near you is involved in ChristCare.

ChristCare groups meet at the convenience of the members. Elsewhere in this issue you will find some articles about the groups. Review the articles and feel free to contact the leader and learn their schedule. Be part of this spiritually uplifting, caring program in our church. Invite friends and acquaintances to come and join us so they can learn our commitment: "Our church is a Christian covenant community exclusively devoted to Jesus Christ and inclusively committed to God's unconditional grace. In joy and gratitude we live out the call of Christ to worship God, make disciples, support one another, and share God's extravagant welcome." Consider one of these or contact anyone in ChristCare to learn how to become trained as a leader to start your own group. We have Movie Maniacs-Ron Reuter, Crafty Christians-Marilyn Kauffman, Cross I'd Players-John Kauffman, Writers in the Storm-Gina Green, Pray it isn't so-Janet Aldred, Exploring our Path-Jodie Stackowiak, Opening Doors (to the Bible)-Roger Dieringer, "Son" Shine readers-Patti Scroggins, Beginnings (an overview of ChristCare)-Ron and Liz Schaaf, the Key o'Life-Beth Iverson or (take a deep breath) Quiet Moments-Pat Lindquist - ChristCare is here for you.

Pick up a ChristCare brochure and contact any of the leaders for a terrific experience with ChristCare-a circle of care with Christ at the center. We know that God is still speaking here at First Congregational United Church of Christ . . what do you say to that call?